Waiting at work the time seemed to go so slowly. Watching the clock with much content I was relieved to see the familiar sight of three o'clock finally appear on the distant clock across the office and just like that I had shut my computer off and scurried out of the office after a long 10 hour day.
I grabbed all my hunting gear which I had not thought to lay out the night before and with a quick stop for a pizza and diesel I was ready to get back into the bush. The hour half trip in seemed to drag on but as I rounded the last corner into the car park I was relieved to only see one other car parked up. Quick inspection of the vehicle proved it to be a hunters and the engine wasn't warm so I made the assumption he would hopefully be on his way out as the time was just passing 5 o'clock. I quickly grabbed my gear and made the decision to head up the river valley pressing into the stiff breeze.
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I knew time was against me so my slow paced walk turned into a brisk one stopping only quickly to look at sign. I managed to find an oldish print , one of the biggest I've seen just minutes from the carpark on a sandy bank. Will be keen to try catch up with the stag in just a few weeks time!
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I was planning on heading up to a slip about an hour back and glassing it till sundown with the goal of at least seeing an animal. I have been into this area for 6 trips now and before this last trip I had only ever heard one other animal, at a distance charging away from me. So anyways I jumped out of the creek bed onto a DoC track which runs roughly parallel with the goal of covering more ground quicker so I could force my way back into the slip. After about 40 minutes I was half covered in sweat and thought an easy relaxing night may have been a better option. I quickly told myself to stop being lazy and pushed on. The side creek I wanted to head up was erring ever so closer with each step when out of no where I heard a rifle shot off to my right roughly about a k away. I halted to a stop and with a bit of geography along with a fair amount of cursing determined the shot rang out from roughly where I had planned on going.
Plan B was the next option. I had no plan B. I picked my rifle up and decided to switches sides of the river bed and start bush bashing with any hope to bump into something. Another hour passed and I had about reached the end of my self allocated time limit to get as deep as I could before I better turn back around and start wandering back to the ute. I dropped off a ridge and back into the main creek bed. A few previous scouting trips into the area along with alot of Google Map searching had given me a bit of information on where a few slips which could be seen from the creek bed were. So after conceding that I was gonna get wet feet I started making my way slowly down the creek bed glassing the slips marked on my GPS.
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A quick glance at my watch showed a bit after 7 from memory and my hopes were fading almost as fast as the sunlight over the ridge beside me. I had two more slips left on my journey out an upon approaching the first one I quickly lifted the rifle and began glassing away. After a good minute of determining that there was nothing up on the slip I decided to have a quick breather and sat down on one of the rocks in the creek bed. Staring aimlessly into the bush in front of me.
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I grabbed my GPS from my bum bag and after toying with it from a few minutes glanced back up to the slip to be in utter shock when I saw a faint brown clump on the right hand side of the slip which I knew was definitely not there before. I quickly snatched the rifle from the adjacent rock and it effortlessly glued to my shoulder. Upon inspection I was stoked to discover that my eyes had not actually been playing tricks on me and it was indeed a deer. I quickly brushed a few rocks aside in the creek bed and with a bit of tetris stacking I managed to create a rest high enough to be able to scope the animal up on the slip at roughly 45 degrees from the creek bed. As I went prone on the creek bed I had rocks digging into places that would not be comfortable for any man and after quick reshuffling found myself in a less that ideal but more comfortable position.
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My scope showed a hind (sorry about the pic quality its in the bottom right I promise) and as I lined up to take the shot I thought I better take a quick few pictures just in case I missed her. They all turned out pretty bad but managed to get a good one out of the thirty or so that were quickly taken on my phone. When I got back on the scope I was alarmed to see her brown body had disappeared from the slip. After furiously glassing for the best part of three minutes I finally found her head tucked above a small tree staring towards a neighboring ridge. Her body was completely hidden behind a bush. She had presented no shot. I waited and waited. We were in a stalemate. I reached for my GPS and with a bit of button pushing estimated she was around 270m away. For myself and my .243 a head/neck shot was out of the question. With light fading fast around me the thought crossed my mind that I may not get a shot away. However after what seemed like eternity which was actually probably the best part of 15 minutes she took a step to the left. I lined up on her and squeezed a round off hoping I would actually hit just behind the front shoulder where I was aiming. The sound echoed down the river flat and surrounding ridges.
My rifle had recoiled off target and I quickly tried to find her in my scope again. I saw the last glimpse of her scurrying across the left hand side of the slip seeming merely untouched with either a yearling or another hind quickly in toe. I had no clue where this second animal had come from. I had been watching her on the clearing for the best part of 25 minutes and had not seen any other movement. To be honest apart from the adrenaline I felt quite empty inside like I had fluffed the shot. I stayed on my scope just long enough to see her edging back onto the slip from the side she had left only 20 seconds early. A quick action on the bolt saw another round in the chamber and as I tried to calm myself for the reload she stopped close to the middle of the slip. With my finger on the trigger I was about to squeeze off a second round when out of my scope I saw her tumble over backwards down the slip. Needless to say I was stoked.
I quickly dropped all my non essential gear in the creek bed and made my way up the ridge to retrieve my animal. The light was fading fast and I knew the downhill carry could get messy if I didn't get out of there quickly so I pushed myself up the hill as quickly as safety would allow. I finally reached her after about 20 minutes of scurrying up the hill. Panting like a fat dog to say the least. I quickly gutted her and was relieved to note she wasn't milking. I still have no clue how but I managed to place the bullet behind her front shoulder with it smashing through the heart and out the other side. I swung her on my back and started the sketchy descent down the ridge. I got about half way down before having to switch my head lamp on and decided tossing her down the faces was safer than trying to carry her. Finally on dark I dropped into the main creek. Relieved as anything to be in the last of the daylight.
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A slow long heavy walk awaited me to get back to the ute. But thankfully it wasn't dull. About half way back in the dark I spooked a stag over to the side of the creek and he grunted at me before climbing back up onto the ridge to give a few more grunts. The water crossings weren't the best in the dark but I managed to keep level and make it out to the ute just before 11.
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The car trip out was filled with me wondering how I managed to make the shot at that distance. A new PB for me and that rifle. When I got home I hung her on the washing line in good ol student style. And then after an early morning I was left with steaks rolled roasts and a sausage meat pile.
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Pretty stoked to break the drought in this area after so many trips and will definitely be heading back in there for the roar!
